According to Dieter over at
PreCentral, real, honest-to-goodness usable apps are starting to "trickle out" for the Pre / webOS. Apparently utilizing a loophole in the operating system which allows unsigned apps to be sideloaded through email, homebrewers have taken to the interwebs with small utilities like the tip calculator (pictured above). This comes just a day after a group of DIY'ers figured out a workable solution for getting software onto the phone
without rooting, so obviously Pre hacking is moving along at a healthy clip. These are -- of course -- very early applications, so don't expect perfection, and there seems to be some concern that Palm might want to patch up this hole, as it leaves the phone vulnerable to less altruistic endeavors. While the latter point is reasonable to consider, we do have a piece of advice for the folks at the front of this movement: don't wait and worry on how Palm will react to this stuff. It's important to push platforms like webOS, and the Pre needs all the love it can get on the development side right now.
Read - Right now: Install a Homebrew App without Hacking
Read - Homebrew Apps Tricking Out, but be careful
posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 11:31AM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Digiburd @ Jun 23rd 2009 1:10PM
This thing works like a charm! Dev folks.. go to town! The Tip Calc works perfectly so far.
Stephen @ Jun 23rd 2009 12:20PM
Might want to credit JWZ for the tip calculator.... since you used it as a post image.
http://jwz.livejournal.com/1056137.html
Jamie Zawinski @ Jun 23rd 2009 12:27PM
Come on guys, you posted a screen shot of my app, but didn't even link to it? FAIL. For anyone who is interested, it's here: http://www.jwz.org/tipcalculator/
edgar wong @ Jun 24th 2009 9:24AM
Engadget, please edit article and give proper credit and link. Not cool guys
sweet greggo @ Jun 26th 2009 3:13AM
Awesome job, Jamie!
lgrunauer1 @ Jun 23rd 2009 2:22PM
yeah.... except for the fact that $73 divided by 3 is not $25.
Mr Joshua @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:38PM
"It only does whole numbers, because if you insist that your tip be accurate to the penny you are a cheapskate weirdo. " Haha.. I guess we know a lot about lgrunauer1 now..
Steve @ Jun 29th 2009 5:46PM
"Here in the Colonies, we use paper money, not coins."
Here in the 21st century we use credit cards (and get rewards too), not paper money. Also, even if the total is a whole number, the actual tip amount is probably not, so you're just making the poor waiter use coins instead of yourself.